DIK. QEOU and Hebrew Construct Genitives

From: Eric Weiss (eweiss@gte.net)
Date: Thu Jan 01 1998 - 14:59:40 EST


(My Hebrew knowledge is extremely poor, so please correct me if I'm
misunderstanding something here.)

In his NICNT Commentary on Romans, Douglas Moo discusses at length the
various possible meanings of DIKAIOSUNH QEOU ("righteousness of God").
In arguing against the view that D.Q. is strictly an attribute of God,
he states:

   "What is sometimes overlooked at this point is that this saving
activity can also be considered from the standpoint of the human being
who receives 'God's righteousness.' In these contexts, God's
righteousness clearly includes the aspect of gift or status enjoyed by
the recipient. The clearest instance is Ps. 35:27-28... Cf. also 51:14,
where the psalmist speaks of the 'God of my (Moo italices "my")
salvation' and of 'your (Moo italicizes "your") [God's]
righteousness,'...." (pp. 81-82)

   [Moo then discusses D.Q. meaning God's righteous judgment] "God's
dikaiosyne bears this meaning also in the expression that occurs five
times in Ps. 119 - ta krimata tou dikaiosyne sou, 'the judgments of your
righteousness' (vv. 7, 62, 106, 160, 164)...." (p. 83)

Now to my question: Weingreen's Hebrew Grammar makes the point that due
to a shortage of adjectives, "the effect of limiting the application of
a noun may be obtained by putting it in the construct state" - and notes
that "since the construct cannot take the article or suffix; it is the
genitive which is made definite by the article or suffix" (p. 136
section 63) (see also Appendix 5. on p. 253). Thus Weingreen states that
"mountain-of holiness-of-me" means "my mountain of holiness," i.e., "my
holy mountain" (p. 136); and elohay-y'shuati means "my God of
salvation," i.e., "my saving God" - NOT (as Moo would have it) "God of
my salvation"; also, har-qadshu means "his mount of holiness," i.e.,
"his holy mount," NOT "the mount of his holiness." (p. 253).

If Weingreen is right, is Moo then misinterpreting the Hebrew construct
genitive in these cases? Is the Hebrew really talking about an attribute
of God - i.e., does Psalm 51:4 ("God of my salvation") REALLY MEAN "my
saving God" and do the verses in Psalm 119 ("the judgments of your
righteousness") REALLY MEAN "your righteous judgments" (which is how KJV
translates 119, though it translates Ps. 51:14 as Moo does)?

--
"Eric S. Weiss"
http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htm
eweiss@gte.net


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